Lioness Reborn
by Kalicat
Summary: Sequel to Lioness Falling, Hermione finds herself caught in a web of new challenges, from a bewildered Ron to a mysterious medical problem. Rated M for citrus-y fun


A/N: As promised, the sequel! This is a sequel to Lioness Falling, so if you haven't read that story, you'll be very confused. Anyways, I drew up the plotline for this story a few nights ago and well *evil chuckle*it's going to be very interesting to see everybody's reactions. Enjoy!

Draco, Luna, and Hermione sat on the narrow bed in the hospital wing, staring at the door to Madame Pomfrey's office. It had been nearly an hour since Harry, Ron and Madame Pomfrey had gone in, and despite straining their ears, not a peep had been heard from within. Hermione shifted uncomfortably; the silence was beginning to get to her. She'd expected Ron to be angry that she was with Draco, but to have no memory of four months? Krum must've knocked him out the night he'd taken him and fed him nourishment potions without waking him up, like the Healers did with coma patients. She supposed it made sense; Krum had been far too busy trying to torment her to let his captive run around awake. Shoving the nagging thoughts of regret into the back of her mind, she focused on the door, not even jumping when Draco took her hand and squeezed it.

Draco glanced over at Hermione, worried about her. The dark circles under her eyes that had only recently begun to fade had returned with a vengeance, coupled with the bloodshot eyes and ashen skin she looked like a zombie. The blank, unwavering stare at the door didn't help dispel the illusion either. Not that he didn't understand; the poor girl had spent months being tortured, believing that one of her best friends was a sadistic monster, only to find out that it hadn't been him and that he didn't remember anything, then been yelled at because the friend believed she was cheating on him with their arch enemy. Rubbing his thumb across her knuckles reassuringly, Draco let his mind wander slightly to what would happen after that door opened. Warm and fuzzy reunion seemed unlikely, but Ron and Hermione had been friends ever since first year. Compared to his measly few weeks, that was a lifetime. He knew he didn't stand a chance of keeping her if Ron decided to win her back, but he wouldn't give up easily.

Luna watched the somber couple and internally sighed. It seemed as if the mere fact that Ron didn't know that he'd been taken had allowed insecurities between them to flourish, driving a slight, but visible wedge between them. Shaking her head, she wondered how all of this was going to affect Hermione: she had only begun to deal with the fact that she'd been raped and abused, only to find out it had been someone else in disguise. She'd have to somehow learn to not associate Ron with the violence she'd endured, but Luna knew how ingrained those memories were. Whenever someone came up behind her and breathed close to her ear even today it caused a flashback, and usually whoever was behind her got hexed. Letting out a mournful sigh, she focused her attention back on the door just in time for it to swing open.

Harry stepped out first, his grim expression made even more striking by his pale skin. Floating behind him at shoulder head came an unconscious Ron; head lolling in an amusing was that bellied the serious situation they were in. Madame Pomfrey guided his sleeping figure over to one of the beds and drew the curtains before coming over to the group huddled on the bed.

"He's had quite a shock," she began with a slight smile, "and had a panic attack when things were explained, but with time and patience I have full faith he will recover. I will be keeping him here for a while to make sure there are no lingering ill effects from the potion, and I encourage you all to visit him often. Talk to him, help him feel reconnected. Ms. Granger, I have a bit of paperwork to do, but after that I'd like to examine you for anything I may have missed last night, so stick around for a bit if you would."

"Yes, Madame Pomfrey," Hermione replied, yanking her gaze from the curtained bed.

"Harry, you look ghastly, did he really react that badly?" Luna asked gently as Pomfrey bustled off, reaching out to gently touch his arm, "He'll get better, you know he will."

"I know, he reacted about how I expected he would. Hyperventilating, general freaking out. It's just that I've been thinking about Ginny," Harry answered morosely, bringing everybody up short.

The mention of that single name darkened the mood in the room, which had already been grim. Though Ron had been unconscious and Krum merely used Polyjuice to look like Ron, Ginny had acted of her own free will. Hermione winced as she remembered what Krum had told her. _Ginny caught me without my potion the last night before school. She's been instrumental in keeping tabs on you. She's helped me in more ways than one._

"Harry-" Hermione began, but Harry cut her off.

"Don't start, Hermione. I was her fiancée by the time she found out about Krum, and she went along with him! She HELPED him! Helped him kidnap her own brother! I knew she was upset with you because of the whole fight you two had during the war and all, but that's no reason for her to team up with a psychotic, sadistic fucktard! And I didn't even notice!" Harry buried his face into his hands, his face an odd mixture of anger and despair.

"It's your seventh year, you can't be on top of everything, there's simply too much to do," Luna tried to comfort, rubbing his back gingerly.

"That might account for what I did to Hermione, just not paying attention and letting her slip through the cracks, and I blame myself for that. But if I'd paid better attention to Ron, I would've known something was up and look what happened. And Ginny? She was my fiancée. I spent most of my time with her! We spent so much time planning the wedding and doing homework together and just talking-" choking up, Harry just shook his head, letting the emotions he'd been holding back wash over him, "It's my fault this happened to you, Hermione. If anyone should have noticed that something was wrong and said something, it was me. I should've said something when I thought Ginny was being too harsh on you and Draco. I should've asked you why you avoided him like the plague. Gods sake, I should've pulled my head out of my ass and just paid attention!"

The three sat there in stunned silence as they watched the Chosen One break down, crying tears of frustration and pain in the middle of the hospital wing. No one spoke for the longest time, the silence broken only by the muffled cries from Harry, echoing eerily in the small space. Finally, Hermione spoke up.

"Harry, you were the Chosen One, I get it. You had to defeat Voldemort and save everybody. When we were hunting for horcruxes, you were the one who never stopped thinking about what more we could do, where else we could look. You're probably lucky you didn't give yourself a heart attack from all the stress you were under. For seven years, you made it your mission to save the entire Wizarding World. You may be the Chosen One, but last I knew, you were chosen to kill Voldemort, not save everyone from every bad thing that could ever happen," reaching over to smooth his perpetually untidy bangs from his face, she continued, "I know it's hard to change mindsets like that, but you have to understand, what happened with Krum and Ginny was not your fault. They were the ones who decided to become selfish, evil bastards. Ginny was your fiancée, and I am so sorry that she chose the path that she did. But she is her own person, with a mind of her own. We all know how stubborn and opinionated she's always been, and for whatever reason, this was what she decided to do. Nothing you could've said or done would've changed her mind."

"But what am I supposed to do now, Hermione? Ginny was my future. Everything I planned, I planned around her. She even agreed that we could live in Godric's Hollow so that I could be close to my parent's graves…" Harry said, looking up at Hermione with a lost gaze that tore her heart.

It was Luna who answered.

"You pick yourself back up and keep going," she answered simply, tilting her head to one side, "In the end, that's all anyone can do. Learn to live again, and live purely for yourself now. Plan the future YOU want, and strive for it knowing that you're on the right path for you."

"But all I want is Ginny back. My Ginny. I just don't know how I'm supposed to move on after her, Luna. I really loved her," Harry sighed, "How do you get over a girl you were engaged to who turns traitor to hurt one of your best friends?"

"Not easily, but this part won't last forever," Luna said with a sad smile, "It's only a rough beginning, not a tragic ending."

Harry managed a miniscule smile. He knew his friends were trying their hardest to help, but their words had only grazed the icy knife that had pierced his heart the moment Draco had told him that Ginny had helped Krum. Luna's smile didn't change, but her eyes softened into a look of pity. She knew it was going to be a long recovery for Harry.

Madame Pomfrey hurried in then, shooing everyone out on the pretense that Hermione had to rest. Draco was the last to leave, sending an anxious glance back as Pomfrey shut the door in his pale face. Turning back to Hermione, Madame Pomfrey bustled about, pulling over a small cart of metal instruments and attaching metal stirrups to the end of the bed that made Hermione cringe just looking at them.

Catching Hermione's look of horror, Madame Pomfrey's normally businesslike expression softened, "I'm sorry for this, Ms. Granger, but when Draco gave his statement to the Headmistress last night, he mentioned that you had been… hurt with a stick in a sensitive area. I removed most of the splinters while you were unconscious, I just need to make sure I got them all and that you're healing correctly."

Nodding her understanding, Hermione bit her lip nervously and put her legs into the freezing stirrups as directed. Holding her breath to keep from whimpering as Madame Pomfrey gently poked and prodded, she flashed back to the Chamber. She'd thought Krum would rape her again the second he touched her, but shoving a stick into her was a complete shock and showed how completely insane Krum was. She was completely sore down there, though she hadn't dared say anything about it to Draco. He'd been through enough these last few days.

"Good news! It looks like you're healing nicely, so I'm going to cast a few rapid healing and skin protecting spells to make you more comfortable while it heals up, okay Ms. Granger?" Madame Pomfrey said cheerfully. Hermione didn't miss the distinctly relieved note in her voice.

"That sounds great, thank you," Hermione replied gratefully. She didn't care what the nurse did, just as long as the burning went away.

As Madame Pomfrey started muttering spells under her breath, Hermione decided that she needed to get her feet under her again. Krum would get a dementors kiss next week and Ginny wouldn't come back, she wasn't stupid. She would figure out how to deal with Ron, Draco would help her get over the whole Polyjuice mess up and maybe they could be friends again. Harry would need a lot of support because of the whole Ginny mess, but that was no problem. Giving a giant sigh of relief, Hermione let herself relax for the first time since Ron- no, since Krum- had snatched her. Everything would work itself out.

"Hmmm," Madame Pomfrey muttered, "That's odd."

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked anxiously, her moment of peace shattered.

"It seems that your body is rejecting the spells. Did Mr. Krum hex or curse you before injuring you?"

"No, not that I'm aware of." Hermione replied, searching her mind frantically. She'd woken up fine, but she had been unconscious for some time. Did he perhaps curse her then? But what kind of curse would make you reject healing spells? She'd never heard of a spell designed to repel another except protego and that was to protect the caster.

"Okay, well… There are several medical things it could be. Because of their magic, wizards and witches have been known to repel certain spells that could harm them. I'm not quite sure why the skin protecting spell is being blocked, but I have a few ideas," Madame Pomfrey paced at the end of the bed, a nervous habit that Hermione had never seen her do, "However, judging by how quickly your body repelled the spells, I won't be able to tell you what is going on for another week."

"… Madame Pomfrey, could you tell me what it could be, potentially?" Hermione asked, feeling her heartbeat increase, sure it was beating a tattoo on the inside of her chest.

"As I said, Ms. Granger, it could be any of a number of things, given your circumstances. For now, I think it best that we wait and see. As for your injuries, they will heal on their own without the spells. The pain relief spell did take, fortunately," Pomfrey replied absently, obviously thinking about whatever she might have, "I'll need you to come back in next Wednesday after classes, if possible. Other than that, you are free to go."

"… Um, I thought you told Ron that I would be here for awhile?" Hermione asked timidly, alarmed by the vacant look on the nurse's face.

"You need to come by once a day so that I can do check ups, but other than that you're fine. Make sure you talk to someone though," Madame Pomfrey said, her eyes focusing intently on Hermione's for a brief moment, "Talk to one of your friends, young Malfoy perhaps. I'm always here if you need to talk. The important thing is simply to talk out your problems. Don't keep everything to yourself, Ms. Granger, or you'll be back to see me in a completely different capacity."

Hermione nodded her understanding and slipped out of the large doors into the corridor. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the mountain of thoughts all vying for her attention to the back of her mind and set off in search of Draco.

A/N: There we go! PLEASE review, I love hearing everyone's thoughts and ideas and reviews make me write faster!


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